Sunday, April 24, 2016

Chainsaw Gardening


As I've mentioned, Sir Knight and I are trying something radically different in our garden this year.  After many years of traditional gardening, with less than stellar results, we put in our first "Hugelkultur" raised garden bed.   A Hugelkultur bed is nothing more than a raised garden bed filled with trees, branches and bushes - in other words, bulky organic material.  These beds utilize the composting trees to fertilize the garden, providing a constant source of nutrients for years.  The makeup of these gardens also reduce (or eliminate) the need for watering, and if done right, don't require weeding.  Or, at least, that's what they say.....

Our new garden is a complete departure from what we've always known!  As our Mennonite neighbors till, fence and create perfect rows, Sir Knight and I are busy dragging trees (windfalls from our huge wind storm) up from the woods, digging trenches in our yard and gardening with chainsaws!  While their property looks perfectly manicured and tidy, ours looks - well - like a construction zone.  Their beautiful shrubs pose a stark contrast to our ragged, shaggy pile of dirt!

And so, we will watch with great anticipation as our garden grows and evaluate the merits of chainsaw gardening....

Sir Knight cutting the trees into manageable bites



Sir Knight had to take a minute to help Master hand Grenade fly a kite!




We had a dump truck deliver 12 yards of screened top soil for the top of our garden bed

And clover to plant as a cover crop over the entire garden bed

Our friend digging our garden bed trench



Filling the trench with bulky organic material



And filling the trench with soil


Adding the screened top soil

Our new Hugelkultur bed

Sown with clover seed and 8 blueberry plants on top (we will be planting more blueberries)

Our Hugelkultur bed method:

1.  Dig a 2 to 3 foot deep trench (you can build these directly on the ground)

2.  Fill with trees, shrubs, branches (any bulky organic material).  You can mound the organic material 1 to 2 feet above the ground.

3.  Add manure, chicken coup material or other stinky compost (if you have it).

4.  Pile dirt onto the mound, sod side down.

5.  Pile topsoil onto the mound - up to 5 to 6 feet tall.  Our garden only ended up being about 4 feet tall, but I would have rather had it taller.

6.  Plant trees or small brushy shrubs on top (we planted blueberries) and seed all over with a cover crop (or plant with vegetables immediately), and water well.

We'll keep you posted on our Chainsaw Gardening adventures!

21 comments:

  1. Gosh, I hope this works! I've heard of this, but don't know anyone around here (Colo. Spgs.) who uses this method. Will be interested in your results.

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  2. Hugelkultur involves the burying of decaying wood, not freshly cut wood.

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    1. That's what I was thinking. The break down of green wood will use nitrogen from the soil.

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  3. The pine will be good for growing berries and other acid-loving plants; not sure it will work for others. Will follow with interest!

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  4. The pine will be good for growing berries and other acid-loving plants; not sure it will work for others. Will follow with interest!

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  5. Looks like alot of acidic composting material with 100% pine branches. Just sayin.

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    1. I agree - using only (or mostly) pine will be great for a few species, but a potential problem for many others. Hopefully the dirt will reduce the strength of the acid.

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  6. I have been doing this for years. I dig a 4deep 4x12 hole fill tith mostley roten hardwood and the best dirt i can scrape up, on top of this I put 4'x12'x12" forme and fill with good dirt mushroom compost and bunnie berries. I have had good results and the beds last a long time.

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  7. Your garden bed looks amazing. It certainly looks easier on the back using the backhoe then a hand shovel. Will look forward to reading about the upcoming blueberry crops. Yum!
    SJ in Vancouver BC

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  8. Great stuff. Next time mix rotten wood with the fresh cut/windblown stuff. Reason being the rotten is already being broken down with fungi and it will move easily into the fresh. Two last things you need to do is get that bare dirt/soil covered with wood chips leaves anything to hand that doesn't blow away and get some sea buckthorn planted for nitrogen fixing the berry crop and the leaves and finally breaking the wind up.
    I know you have a paucity of seaside on your bit of prairie but you do have the wind and sea buckthorn can easily handle wind once it gets its roots down.
    It's a learning process about what works in your part of this world though so if there is a better suited nitrogen fixing shrub/tree in your woods then plant a few of them instead.

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  9. I am still in the newbie stages with this myself, but I echo the comments made above. Pine needles are used as a mulch because they keep weeds from growing. They are also used to make soil more acidic. Good for blueberries but that may be a problem elsewhere. Best to you.

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  10. Wow - your comments have made me rethink the garden we've put so much time (not to mention money) into planning, digging and planting! I was pretty upset that we were destined to fail once again. However, I went back to my trusty Sepp Holzer books, and was reassured that I wasn't a complete idiot! Apparently, when you chip pine trees and other wood, and use it in chipped form, or directly as chips (as mulch) on top - you definitely alter the acidity of your soil. In fact, you have to be careful not to mix wood chips into the soil in a mixture larger than 1 part chips to 3 parts soil. But, when you are using bulky organic material (entire trees and branches) the composting rate is much slower and the soil is not adversely effected. Another thing that apparently didn't show in the photos was that about half of the organic material we used was rotting and the "fresh" trees we used were blown down in a wind storm last November. At this point I am going to remain hopeful and trust that all of our work has not been in vain. I truly appreciate those of you that provide constructive criticism (especially those of you that have experience with Huglekultur).

    Enola

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    1. apologies from the anonymous (will comment as max from now on) who posted about mixing rotting with fresh...totally forgot you mentioned you had read the sepp holzer book. You will not be disappointed with your work.

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    2. Max;
      No worries - I was just a little taken aback at the thought that all of the work and planning we had put into our garden was for naught! But, after I went back to my Holzer book, I felt much better! I really love hearing from people who have had successful garden in challenging conditions - the more information and wisdom I can glean the better! I just get a little frustrated when I am told that all my best efforts are in vain. I'm pretty sure, according to conventional gardening wisdom, that most of the people that have commented were right on - if they were using a method other than Hugelkultur. Pine does really up the acidity in the soil. I remain very hopeful and anticipate putting in many more hugelkulture beds this fall. Thanks for your kind words.

      Enola

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    3. I certainly apologize if my comment came across as discouraging. I have been researching permaculture methods for years and have experience with pine trees but have only been slowly doing things the last few years. It was intended to help. My best.

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  11. Didn't mean to discourage you. Back to Eden is another very interesting gardening method (Google to watch free video). As I understand it, the two methods should not be combined.

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  12. It looks great and should do well. A bit of warning from someone who has several kugel beds that we have gardened on for years. They dry out something fierce at the tops. Really soak those blueberries and mulch them very heavily. I imagine the wind will dry that out very quickly. Sepp Holzer is also one of my favorite references but you have to realize the major differences between where he gardens and where you (and I and almost everyone) gardens. They have a lot of rain and it is a very moist climate. You have the drying winds across the plains and I have a month of hot and dry every summer. Mulch has saved the day for us. Good luck on your adventure!

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  13. Credit for effort. This is how new things are learned and methods changed. Even if the first attempt isn't a roaring success-- all that pine should be GREAT for the blueberries, come whatever-- it has to yield something, and an education besides.

    Or anyway, that's what I told myself when my bargain-priced screened topsoil turned out to be clay sod rich in "partially composted humanure." Nobody died, and we learned a lot about weeding, mulching, soil improvements, and bucket irrigation ( first we tried a soaker hose, then a drip system-- our well couldn't muster enough water pressure; top-watering with a garden hose was laborious and time consuming as well as not sustainable absent an electric pump and had to be done twice a day to keep the raised bed going through hot dry Arkansas summers, but burying a perforated bucket every six or so feet and using the hose to fill the buckets got the water down deep and had to be done only twice a week).

    I will say that gardening in Pennsylvania clay is a piece of cake after that.

    And I still use the bucket irrigation method, though the Appalachians are much more generous with precipitation than the edge of the Ozarks and the Plains.

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  14. Kites and chain saws, all in one day. Sir Knight is a versatile guy!
    Montana Guy

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  15. If the soil does prove to be too acid, lime or wood ashes are good ways to raise the pH.

    Nitrogen depletion, or course, requires the addition of fertilizer, and that can become costly.

    I'm told that human urine is an excellent, and free, source of nitrogen. As long as everyone is healthy and the urine is fresh, it is said not to be a health or safety or sanitary issue.

    I wouldn't be opposed to trying it myself. I have been known to discreetly dump the soak water from my reusable pads on the garden, to no ill effect as long as no one sees me. I do understand, though, if folks find the "icky factor" insurmountable.

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